Night 4 · Thu Oct 1 · 6:30 to 8:30

WHAT A PIXEL IS

Tonight you print your Calling Card. Whether it survives is the lesson.

The build runs in Photopea, a free browser version of Photoshop, if Photoshop isn't on your machine yet. Same panels, same layers, same PSD files.

Open Photopea ↗

What a complete project looks like

Hold your screen up to this before you call it done

YOUR NAME

Designer in training

Own photo.

1800 × 1200 PX NOTHING PAST THE LINE 0.25 IN MARGIN

Your Calling Card, twice. Same picture, two sizes, and a short note about three decisions you made.

The first one is the square you already made. Untouched, still saved as LASTNAME_callingcard.psd.
The second is a postcard: 6 inches wide, 4 inches tall, at 300 pixels per inch. That's 1800 by 1200 pixels, which is bigger than your square, so your photo has to be big enough to survive it. If it isn't, the postcard goes soft, and you'll know why.
A quarter-inch margin on every side. Nothing important crosses it, because printers can't print to the edge.
A hidden text layer called Notes. Three lines. Each names a design principle from tonight and says where you used it. “Contrast: white name on dark orange.” “Alignment: name and line share a left edge.” “Negative space: nothing in the top third.”
No red flags when you open it: every layer has a real name, and no missing fonts.

Two cards. One note. A print size that holds up.

The vocabulary and the design words for tonight are on the main page: open Night 4 in the list.

Step by step

Click through at your own pace · arrow keys work too · the pulsing box is where you click

Step 1

The screens are drawn from Photopea's layout but simplified, so they won't match yours pixel for pixel. Look for the same spot. Dialogs can be laid out a little differently in your version.

If it goes sideways

Skip this if nothing's wrong · it's here when something is

My pixels changed when I only wanted inches. You resampled. Undo with Ctrl+Z, open Image Size again, turn Resample off first, then type the DPI.
My photo is a blurry mess on the postcard. Not enough pixels for 300 ppi at that size. That's the whole point of tonight. Say so in your Notes layer. If you want it fixed, you need a bigger source photo, not a bigger canvas.
Canvas Size cut my card off. You typed a size smaller than the current one, or the anchor wasn't the middle square. Undo and click the center of the anchor grid.
The color stops at the old square. Canvas Size added empty room. Fill the Color layer again, edge to edge.
I can't see my guides. View menu, check that Rulers and Guides are on.
Never press Ctrl + W in Photopea. It closes the browser tab, and your postcard goes with it.

Shortcuts

Photopea vs. Photoshop · pink rows are the ones that trip people up

Action	Photopea (tonight)	Photoshop (exam)
Free Transform	Alt+Ctrl+T	Ctrl+T
Close document	The × on the document tab	Ctrl+W
Image Size	Image › Image Size	Image › Image Size, or Alt+Ctrl+I
Canvas Size	Image › Canvas Size	Image › Canvas Size, or Alt+Ctrl+C
Select all / Deselect	Ctrl+A Ctrl+D	Ctrl+A Ctrl+D
Move / Type / Eyedropper	V T I	V T I
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Ctrl+Z

Never press Ctrl + W in Photopea. It closes the browser tab, and your postcard goes with it.

Checkpoint

Each box is done or it isn't · checks don't save

Postcard is 6 by 4 inches at 300 ppi (1800 by 1200 pixels).
Resolution was changed without resampling.
A quarter-inch guide margin exists on all four sides.
Nothing important crosses the margin.
A hidden Notes layer names three principles and where each was used.
LASTNAME_postcard.psd saved.

0 / 6

Covers 1.3 image terminology, color modes, non-destructive editing · 1.4 design principles and type terms · 2.1 image size, canvas size, resolution · 2.2 guides.